Many artists with API gear say it inspires or opens up creative roads unknown to them before. However Ilse Delange, a Dutch recording artist and member of the band "The Common Linnets," is the first to 'accidentally' record an entire album while working with her 1608. Both Delange and her producer JB Meijers spoke with API recently about their console, and the effect it's had on their work.

Meijers commented: "The 1608 is ruling the Dutch charts! Our room is designed so that if we have a great idea, we can immediately track it. The API makes it possible to skip the laptop/bedroom phase." Delange first saw a 1608 in Nashville's Blackbird Studio, and sold Meijers on it when they decided to start their own studio at the Wisseloord complex in Holland. "All credit to Ilse. I love the API—once she mentioned the 1608 I no longer looked at second-hand consoles."

Delange has had some digital mixers in the past, but says that choosing API for her newest console was easy. "We fell in love with the API sound because of the records we like and the places we worked, so we gravitated naturally, and we do not regret it because we are now able to recreate those beloved sounds, and find new and inspiring ones!"

The result of that inspiration is that she works on the 1608 so often, "we just write and record, write and record, repeat and repeat. We're stockpiling songs and we probably already gave birth to a second Common Linnets album."

The 1608 has brought plenty of success to Delange and Meijers since it was installed in February 2014. Meijers says it has been featured on five #1 albums in Europe, and notes that in addition to The Common Linnets, and Ilse's solo tracks, "our room has worked with Dutch chart-toppers like BlØf, De Deijk, Van Velzen, Paul de Leeuw, Go Back to the Zoo, and Carice van Houten".

"It really is the control surface of our studio." he notes. "The EQs are phenomenal. Like nothing else. They add so much taste."